Providence
by ScienceBehindFiction
Summary: An alternate ending to "The Parts in the Sum of the Whole". Change was inevitable, why had his confession brought him nothing but pain? & why had bottled feelings healed that?


**Disclamer: Obviously I don't own Bones, it's copyright of the FOX corporation & I own nothing but an autograph from David.**

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The memories reeled on for him, his own personal movie. Picture after picture, scenes after thoughts, words after emotions and he could not draw himself out, could not face up to reality, these memories were crystal clear in his minds eye and he refused to pull himself away from them, from the night's events, that tragic moment, encrypted forever in both time and space; he refused to pull away from her. Yet, she was still here waiting for him, stuck in a reality of her own creation, waiting, the two of them, always waiting, but for what, neither of them knew.

_They exited the Hoover building seemingly casually, discussing the interpretations of Dr. Sweets concerning their personal lives, walking past the wall that although they took no notice of, really bared significance to their current situation, it read "Nothing happens unless first a dream" – Carl Sandburg._

_They moved forwards a few paces before he decided to stop directly opposite, turning to face her._

"_I'm the gambler, I believe in giving this a chance; look, I want to give this a shot." He stated, his voice heavy with emotion. _

"_You mean us?" she replied, clearly in confusion, he just nodded in response. _

"_No, the FBI won't let us work together anymore" she continued_

"_No, don't do that; that is no reason" – _

_And he silenced any protest she may have had with a gentle yet passionate kiss but to his dismay, she broke it off only too soon, pushing lightly against his chest as if to ward him off._

"_No, no"_

"_Why?" he asked, a look of despondence set on his face._

_She looked him straight in the eye "you thought you were protecting me, but you're the one who needs protecting"_

"_Protecting from what?"_

"_From me, I don't have your kind of open heart." She looked down in an attempt not to meet his gaze, anguish plastered across her face._

"_Give it a chance, that's all I'm asking." The desperation evident in his voice._

"_You said it yourself, the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different outcome," she stated, briefly looking up and into his eyes, he stood there mustering what little courage he had left and looked directly into her eyes._

"_Well then let's go for a different outcome here; alright, just hear me out. You know when you talk to older couples; you know who have been in love for thirty, forty, fifty years right, it's always the guy who says 'I knew"'…_

…"_I knew, right from the beginning." Once again looking into her eyes, it was then that the scientist inside her chose to surface, and looking directly at him, blank faced, almost cold, she spoke._

"_Your evidence is anecdotal."_

_He looked at her almost pleadingly,_

"_I'm that guy Bones, I'm that guy, I know." _

_She chose to back away slightly, only to walk closer to him again and she spoke what she believed to be truth._

"_I am not a gambler, I'm a scientist, I can't change, I don't know how…I don't know how" she replied in vain, heartbreak becoming apparent on both their faces, tears building up yet refusing to fall._

_He stepped away from her, trying not to show any weakness and failing miserably. Her heart went out to him. _

"_Please don't look so sad." She begged; finally moving away from her, he leant against the rails of the stairs behind him._

"_You're right, you're right." He admitted, not wanting to believe it. She too was on the verge of tears at this point._

"_Can we still work together?" she questioned, a look of tearful hope upon her face. He looked at her earnestly, heartbroken, but not willing to deny her anything._

"_Yeah." He replied, giving in and wiping away the tears that trickled down his face._

"_Thank you."_

_He turned to her once more, sobering up slightly._

"_But I gotta move on, I gotta find someone who's gonna love me, thirty years or forty or fifty."_

"_I know." She replies, evidently sad, regretful, she wipes away her own tears and they head off into the night together and yet, not._

Change was inevitable, waiting served no purpose for him anymore. He'd always believed that there would come a time when their friendship would grow into something more, and it had, every moment they spent together only served to strengthen their bond, their ties to each other binding them closer by the second and he'd often found himself wishing for the courage to initiate that change. It proved that tonight he'd had that strength he'd been wishing for, and a change did occur; it just wasn't the one he'd wanted, it wasn't even one he'd expected. By all rights, he should have anticipated this; they'd known each other for a little over half a decade now, he knew her well enough to have known that she just wasn't ready for this; he shouldn't have ignored the urge to bottle his feelings once more. For a time he'd put his trust in science because she always had, always did. But he wasn't her, he wasn't a scientist, he wasn't a genius, he was merely an FBI agent with average intelligence and yet he was stupid enough to listen to Sweets, stupid enough to put his trust in Psychology, the one science she had never liked, never believed in, never trusted. The bond they had built over the years almost undone in a single night. Whom was he kidding? How could someone as brilliant, as bright or as beautiful as her ever love an idiot like him?

The answer to that was simple, she couldn't, and he doubted anyone ever would, not really. He could try to move on, find someone who wanted to spend their life with him but they would never be her and so, never be able to truly love him, truly love a fool caught up in his past. Thinking upon this brought an unexpected image to the forefront of his mind, an image of a psychic and her deck of cards.

_He sat in the interrogation room looking directly at the suspect in question, Avalon Harmonia._

"_It's very hard to explain my process." She answered, even though he had not voiced the question aloud._

"_Well you're going to have to do better than, I'm a psychic." He advised._

"_You're the man that was in the coma, aren't you?"_

"_Would you pick a card please?" She had folded her arms in confidence and he looked down at the deck, tempted._

"_Urrm okay" he proceeded to choose one from the deck and handed it to her, flipping it over she had said_

"_You're worried you lost something." He didn't like where the conversation was leading, there was no way she could have read his thoughts, no way a deck of cards could either._

"_Look Miss Harmonia, I really don't need a tarot card reading right now. What I need to know is how you knew that those people were buried under Tavishin fountain. " _

"_It's all in the cards agent Booth, you can't argue with what's in the cards…" she said cryptically_

"…_you never lost anything in that coma agent Booth, you gained something."_

He remembered a ghost of a smile appearing on his face at the time, now all that memory brought with it was pain. She had been right, he never lost anything in that coma and he had without a doubt gained something, he had gained loss and heartbreak. Cliché though it was, he knew it to be the truth of his predicament.

An urgent rapping on his apartment door disrupted his thoughts, sending them back to the confines of his mind. He moved towards it, curious to know who on Earth wanted to see him this early in the morning then cautiously pulled it open, only to reveal the one person he never expected to see at his door again.

Moments later and indeed a couple of questions afterwards, they were both sat on the foot of his bed; an awkward silence filling the air, neither knew what to say to the other, and so this silence brought with it a sense of comfort, an intimate moment between the two. They stayed like that for what, to them seemed like hours, though were only a matter of minutes. They were content to sit there together, drawing comfort from the mere presence of the other and ultimately absorbing the love that emanated, so strongly, from them both, despite the pain they had went through that night.

"I'm sorry…." She whispered, tears welling up in her eyes once more.

"Don't be." He replied softly, looking her in the eye, he saw a tear make its way down the side of her face and gently wiped it away with his thumb, pulling her into a soft embrace. They stayed like that, silent and still, wrapped in each other's arms, providing a safe haven for them both. Tears fell of their own accord, mingling together; a rare occurrence for the two. When they eventually broke apart, they did so with reluctance, soulful brown meeting gentle blue orbs. Their love conveyed in a single gaze, her love for him expressed even before her confession.

"I wanted to, I want to, what I mean to say is…I love you." She stuttered. Suddenly his lips were on hers, kissing her with a tender passion, only this time she didn't pull away.

"I can't change Booth, I just can't…" he shushed her before she could finish.

"Did I ever ask that of you?" She looked down knowing that he never had, he'd implied it though, hadn't he?

"Temperance." he whispered, the use of her given name shaking her from her musings.

"I'd never ask that of you, I wouldn't want you to change because of me, because of anyone." With that, he took her hands in his.

"I know you're scared…" she looked down, ashamed, afraid to admit that which she already knew, afraid to show any sign of weakness.

"…I understand, all I want is for you to trust me." he continued, lightly caressing her hand as he did so.

"I do Booth, more than anyone." She replied; her gaze fixed solely on him. He withdrew his hand from hers and drew her instead into a caring, tender embrace. In his arms, she let her mind wonder back through the years to all the small, to all the intimate moments they had shared together. The words he spoke now fused with them.

"I want this to work Bones, I know it can, because I mean it; thirty, forty, fifty years from now…I'm never going to abandon you, never going to stop loving you. I promise." What he spoke was the truth; she need not be a genius to figure that out. She drew back from his arms only to pull him in for gentle, passionate kiss that kept on escalating, picking up from where they had left off all those years ago.

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**Please read & review even if you didn't like it, if I get a load of bad reviews then I'll take this down as I don't want to put the fandom to shame :)**

**Constructive critism is welcomed.**


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